The Wizard – Collector’s Edition

Summary

“I love the power glove. It’s so bad.”

I am a child of the late-Eighties and early-Nineties. My earliest memories are tied to Hasbro action figures, Nintendo games, and movie nights as a family. It should come as no surprise that a movie like The Wizard was aimed squarely at my demographic. Somehow this movie slipped right past me and my family. My guess is that it never came to my attention because it sank at the box office upon its release. This weekend I had the opportunity to sit down and discover it with my two boys and wife on a family movie night. I am happy to report that it is a real crowd pleaser for nostalgists that have children.

The film begins with a young boy named Jimmy (Luke Edwards) walking down a deserted road holding onto his yellow lunch box. When the police arrive, Jimmy simply says “California.” Jimmy gets placed in an institute by his mother and stepfather because he is non-communicative and keeps running away from the house. Jimmy’s brother Corey (Fred Savage) lives with his older brother Nick (Christian Skater) and father Sam (Beau Bridges.) Nick and Sam have a strained relationship. The family was split up by a tragedy that is revealed later in the film. Corey decides that he needs to break Jimmy out of the institute if nobody else will. He sneaks into the institute and finds Jimmy playing Nintendo. They hop into the back of a Hostess truck and hit the road with the goal of reaching California. Nick and Sam hop in their truck and try to find the boys. Also looking for the boys is a tracker named Putnam (Will Seltzer) who will sabotage Nick and Sam at every opportunity so he can receive the reward money for bringing back Jimmy. At a bus stop, Jimmy plays an arcade game and receives the high score. Corey and Jimmy meet a girl named Haley (Jenny Lewis.) Corey is light on funds so he makes a bet with Haley that Jimmy can beat her at Double Dragon. She accepts the bet with her bus ticket on the line. Jimmy beats her at Double Dragon and in an argument they miss the bus. All three band together and decide to go cross country with Jimmy by hustling people in video arcades. Haley lives in Reno and plans to drop off there, but when she learns about the Video Armageddon video game competition being held at Universal Studios, she decides to tag along with them all the way to California. Along the way they meet a true competitor named Lucas that has a Power Glove, and also encounter numerous people that want to rob them.

The Wizard is a fun family film. It is hard to objectively judge a children’s film if you did not watch it as a child. That is why it was helpful to have my two boys in the room (aged ten and four respectively.) While my wife and I enjoyed all the nostalgic nods to Nintendo and late-Eighties culture, our two boys loved the movie for what it was: a cheesy family film that is designed to entertain children. We have trouble figuring out what to watch with our kids because the family films made today are all objectively pretty obnoxious. For example- why is it that family films now consistently rely on fart jokes? It’s just lazy storytelling. I don’t want to turn my kids into absolute morons and these terrible movies they are releasing are not helping anybody at all. Neither is any of this YouTube garbage starring that Ryan kid and his loud grating family… but… I digress. 

Aside from featuring Nintendo games like Ninja Gaiden, Super Mario Bros 2 and 3, Double Dragon, Rad Racer, and a name drop of Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, the film has some songs that took me back to my childhood. The soundtrack includes “Send Me an Angel” by Real Life and “The Right Stuff” and “Hangin’ Tough” by New Kids on the Block. 

The film has a strong cast. Fred Savage does his thing and is not nearly as awkward as I was accustomed to seeing from watching The Wonder Years growing up. He was a very wholesome and natural kid actor, so the role of Corey is well played. Luke Edwards is well cast as Jimmy. The film underutilizes Beau Bridges and Christian Slater due to what was left on the cutting room floor, but I enjoyed their presence in the film. The real stand out performance of the film is by Jenny Lewis. She absolutely nails her role and lends more gravity to her performance than the loose script would have called for. She went on to helm the band Rilo Kiley and appeared on the great album Give Up by the Postal Service. That is a pretty great second act.

Overall – The Wizard is an enjoyable family movie that should please the kids and nostalgists in the living room for family movie night. 

Video

Presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio with an MPEG-4 AVC Encoded image, the new  presentation is sourced from a new 4K scan and it looks great. Fine detail is very strong and the film has been given a good facelift. For a film of its era, soft focus can be expected at times, but overall the film looked much better than I anticipated. This can partially be explained by the presence of cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman who would go on to work with Wes Anderson on all of his fantastic films.

Audio

The audio presentation on The Wizard sounds great. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo track obviously does not have the extra fields of a surround track, but the track was much more immersive than I had anticipated. The soundtrack has some fun throwback tracks that work well in the film. 

Supplements:

Disc 1

Commentary – director Todd Holland discusses working on the film. He is obviously proud of how the film turned out and gives an enjoyable account of the production of the film and his long lasting friendship with the young actors.

Deleted Scenes – nearly forty minutes of deleted scenes that fleshes out a lot of the relationship dynamics in Corey’s family. All of these scenes were cut to speed up the film (with good reason) but it meant the film started out having a lot to explain quickly through the use of ADR.

Theatrical Trailer 

Disc 2

The Road to Cali-forn-ia: A Look Back at The Wizard–  featuring interviews with director Todd Holland, writer David Chisholm, producer Ken Topolsky, and actors Fred Savage (audio only) and Luke Edwards, this making-of feature is really in depth and well done. Fans of the film will enjoy Todd Holland’s discussion of key changes he made to the script to give the film a better emotional core. 

How Can I Help You?: Confessions of a Game Play Counselor – Greg Lowder discusses working at the Nintendo game play hotline.

A Clinical Analysis of The Wizard – clinical psychologist Andrea Letamendi discusses the film’s character Jimmy Woods from a psychological perspective.

Let’s Play Gaming Expo 2019 – Luke Edwards, David Chisholm, and Ken Topolsky sit down for a nearly hour long Q&A.

Post Screening Q&A – Edwards, Chisholm, and Topolsky sit down for another Q&A.

Photo Gallery 

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 4/5

The Wizard is an enjoyable family film that taps into the days when Nintendo ruled the world and New Kids on the Block were ruling the radio. As a child of the Eighties, I enjoyed watching the film with my two young boys who gave the film an enthusiastic two thumbs up. If you don’t have children, there is probably not a reason to stop everything you are doing to watch the film. If you do have children, the film can serve as a good break from the deluge of computer generated schlock out there. Shout!Factory have given the film a great looking transfer and a wealth of special features.